Have any of yall ever lived or been to a dry place???

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Hi yall,
Do any of yall have any personal experience with dry counties and dry cities and small towns? For those of you who dont know dry jurisdictions are places where the sale of alcohol is not legal. Have any of you ever lived in a dry place or close to one? There are many dry places in the South and parts of the Midwest. I used to live in a dry town in Arkansas and it was a hassle having to drive on the highway to get some booze. Dry counties are a remnant of Prohibition. Prohibition is basically still in effect in those parts of the country sadly. I think Arkansas is possibly the state with the highest number of dry counties left. I dont know how dry counties are even legal because it was basically a law that Christians like the church of Christ and Baptists got passed by working with various political allies. Many times the retail and dining scene is really lacking in these dry places.

No, but my dad has.

Tangentially related: Apparently the Bolsheviks were pro-prohibition initially. They changed their mind once they realized how important alcohol was for social control, as well as being a big source of revenue. In the end, they reinstated the state's alcohol monopoly and sold vodka in bottles with lids that couldn't be closed again once opened.

So they have dry areas in Canada or your country? I thought it was a Texan/Southern/Midwestern thing.

Ontario tried prohibition, but it ended in 1927. That's also when the LCBO (the province's liquor stores) were first established.

There's a few dry areas in Canada still; a handful of communities in Alberta have maintained prohibition, along with a number of First Nations reservations outside of Alberta.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_Canada

Oh interesting...I feel like I am the only reverend in the church of Christ who is a big-time drinker and advocate for booze usage in the church....however I have to keep quiet about it for now.

Oh interesting...I feel like I am the only reverend in the church of Christ who loves to drink in public and at home and advocates for booze

Last edited by Texasmoneyman300 on 06 Jul 2025, 9:53 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Oh interesting...I feel like I am the only reverend in the church of Christ who loves to drink in public and at home and advocates for booze..

I wish. I feel like an alien in this alcoholic country I live in.

Prohibition doesn't make people stop drinking, it just turns alcohol into a "street drug".

It's basically like giving a huge subsidy to organized crime.

Like Al Capone back in the day.

Exactly.

Booze is way too popular, profitable and addictive to effectively ban. Attempting to ban it just results in the black market controlling it, rather than it going away.

Oh yes I see. I guess I was thinking of a country that had a religion that forbade it or something. I'm not religious though.

Islamic countries have a black market for illegal alcohol too, so I'm not sure that would solve the problem.

Religion was a major factor behind prohibition in Canada and the US, but those same Christian denominations who espoused teetotalism in public also had plenty of members who drank in private.

It's really hard to ban something that can be made with regular kitchen ingredients in the privacy of one's own home.

In Australia there are three dry zones
1. Public spaces (including construction sites)
https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/family-and ... l%20issues

2. Dry regional towns (prescribed) zones which are usually mining sites that have wet (areas permitted for liquor consumption) and dry (usually work sites)

3. Indigenous communities where police enforce liquor bans.

Islamic countries have a complex relationship with alcohol. In Saudi Arabia its "haram" across the country but you can purchase liquor within specific designated areas where expats live.

Even though Prohibition ended in 1933, Oklahoma and Kansas were dry states until 1974. Kansas has only one dry county, and Oklahoma has none.

Perhaps the most interesting dry county is Moore County, Tennessee. Its county seat is Lynchburg--home to the Jack Daniels distillery.

Texas has only four dry counties--Borden, Kent, Roberts and Throckmorton. Roberts County also has the distinction of being the most conservative county in the US.